As treaties and trade agreements are implemented this year, more U.S. companies are looking at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for fresh business opportunities. Fortunately, a whole host of logistics and transportation service providers are laying the groundwork to overcome inherent infrastructure challenges.

Today, U.S. trucking companies face more regulations than any time in history—and they claim this “regulatory tsunami” is putting the clamp on U.S. productivity. During this session shippers will gain a better understanding of the current state of trucking regulations (HOS & CSA) and the impact they're having on capacity and rates.

Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was up 19.5 percent in January 2011 compared to January 2010 increasing to $67.7 billion, according to data released by the United States Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).

This follows a recent announcement by the BTS in which it reported that total surface transportation trade between the U.S. and its NAFTA partners was up 24.3 percent in 2010 compared to 2009, increasing to $791 billion.

The BTS said that the value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in January was up 10.7 percent compared to January 2006, and up 46.2 percent compared to January 2001, a period of 10 years. Imports in January were up 36.6 percent compared to January 2001, while exports were up 59.6 percent.

Surface transportation, according to the BTS, is comprised mainly of freight movements by truck, trail, and pipeline, and nearly 90 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves by land. According to the BTS 89.6 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moved on land.

BTS officials said that the value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in January increased 42.7 percent since January 2009, which was at $47.5 billion and represented the lowest amount of trade in any month since January 2004. And they added that January 2011 trade value was up 4.0 percent compared to the recession levels of January 2008.

January freight value was up 1.8 percent compared to December, according to the BTS.

The BTS said the value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada was up 17.8 percent year-over-year in January at $40.3 billion. Imports carried by truck were valued 18.7 percent higher in January 2011 compared to January 2010, said the BTS, and the value of exports carried by truck was up 10.4 percent. Michigan paced all states in surface trade with Canada in January at $5.0 billion.

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Mexico was up 22.1 percent year over year in January at $27.5 billion. Imports carried by truck were valued 20.5 percent higher in January 2011 compared to January 2010, said the BTS, and the value of exports carried by truck was up 23.4 percent. Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in December at $9.6 billion.

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The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported this week that U.S. trade with its North America Free Trade Agreement partners Canada and Mexico in January dropped 1.2 percent to $89.3 billion.

In today's supply chain, the only constant is change.
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